Tag Archives: Information technology

Pace Analytical® Acquires Emerson Resources, Inc. Adding Clinical Trial Material Production Capabilities

Aurora Capital

MINNEAPOLIS (PRWEB) AUGUST 25, 2020

Pace Analytical® Services, LLC, the largest American-owned laboratory network providing environmental and life sciences analytical information and services, today announced that it has acquired Emerson Resources, Inc., a pharmaceutical contract development and manufacturing organization (CDMO) specializing in dosage form development and clinical trial material manufacturing.

“Adding Emerson Resources to our portfolio allows Pace Life Sciences to further support our pharmaceutical and biopharmaceutical clients from early-stage research and development through phase 2 clinical trial material manufacturing”, comments Eric Roman, CEO of Pace Analytical®. “For clients, this means seamless support through each critical milestone in bringing a new drug to market”.

Services provided by Emerson Resources are focused on solid oral dosage formulation development and the production of clinical trial materials in support of bringing pharmaceutical and biopharmaceutical products to market. “This acquisition expands the capabilities of Pace Life Sciences to include clinical trial material manufacturing, greatly rounding out our overall service offerings”, adds Greg Kupp, COO of the Pace Analytical® Life Sciences Division. “The production of clinical trial materials requires a robust quality system, deep technical expertise, and the agility to ensure materials are ready for the clinic on time. Emerson is exceptional in these areas and represents a strong addition to the Pace Analytical lab network.”

Emerson Resources principals Jay Signorino, COO and Chip Signorino, CFO, are exiting the family business and have been looking for a buyer with a good cultural fit. “Pace holds the same cultural values and aspirations as Emerson”, notes Jay Signorino. “We believe this will be an easy and beneficial transition for the Emerson team and our customers”.

Over the next six months, Emerson Resources will transition to operating under the Pace Analytical® brand. The Emerson Resources lab is in the Philadelphia, PA area and joins Pace Life Sciences lab locations near Boston, MA, St. Paul, MN, and San Germán, PR. Kupp will oversee the management and operations of all Pace Life Sciences lab locations.

About Emerson Resources
For more than 12 years, Emerson Resources, a premier pharmaceutical development company, has delivered value-added service, ingredients, and expertise to clients in the pharmaceutical and biotech industries. Emerson Resources is a leader in dosage form development, manufacturing cGMP clinical supplies, analytical method development, analytical method validation, release testing, and stability testing. Based in Norristown, Pennsylvania, the Company’s expansive facility features development and analytical laboratories, a cGMP clinical supplies manufacturing plant, and a specialty ingredients excipients manufacturing center. For more information, visit emersonresources.com.

About Pace Analytical®
Pace Analytical® Services, LLC makes the world a safer, healthier place. For decades, we have been the trusted source for quality environmental and life sciences lab testing and analysis and the resource for scientific lab staffing, regulatory, and equipment services. Our work is done in partnership with our clients by providing the science and the data they need to make critical decisions that benefit us all. Pace delivers science better to businesses, industries, consulting firms, government agencies, and more through the largest, American-owned and nationally certified laboratory network. Science matters at PACELABS.com

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Welcoming Open Payments to our portfolio

Industriefonden

August 23, 2020

Industrifonden is proud to announce that we have led a 3 MEUR seed round in Swedish FinTech Open Payments. Existing investors Brightly Ventures, Luminar Ventures, and angel investors also participated in the round. The capital will be used to continue to grow the team and establish the platform in the Nordic and European market.

Swedish fintech Open Payments is one of the leading Open Banking platforms in the Nordic region to offer genuine PSD2 API aggregation via a single and secure API. Open Payments is an FSA licensed Payment Institute that provides a cutting edge modular Open Banking Platform that enables businesses to easily and efficiently integrate with banks and other financial services through pure APIs. The platform has allowed third-party providers and business partners to develop their own products and services under their own brand-name and still own their user journey.  The platform supports an ecosystem where third-party providers and business partners will further enhance the development of the platform going forward.

Open Payments is positioned somewhere between the traditional FinTech and BigTech business models. Open Payments is licensed by the FSA to provide financial services, and the platform itself is more towards a BigTech model, with its openness and modularity. The platform not only provide open APIs, but also extensibility, openness and modularization for businesses and developers to build their unique customer offerings.

“Open Payments platform makes it easy for companies to take advantage of the enormous business development potential that Open Banking entails for small and large companies. It is also exciting to find such a strong founding team with long international experience here in the small Swedish market. I look forward to work with a young, agile company that with ingenious technical simplicity gives customers favourable freedom and flexibility in their open banking offerings”, says Anna Ljungdahl, Investment Manager at Industrifonden.

Open Payments has launched its services in Sweden and Finland with a strong customer base that has built their open banking solutions leveraging Open Payments Platform. The company plan to continue expand into more markets cross Nordics and EU by the end of the year.

The founding team of Open Payments consists of Louise Brandt, CCO, who was previously with iZettle where she held several senior positions and CEO Jonas Kjellin, with background from the startup scene in the US and many years at Microsoft. The founding team has combined experience from FinTech and BigTech which defines Open Payments vision and strategy.

“I believe that BigTechs will have a big impact on how we perform financial services in the future, but also requires traditional FinTechs, and by bridging the gap between them, we have a great position to offer our customers a flexible solution”, says Jonas Kjellin, Founder and CEO at Open Payments.

Open Payments last closed a pre-seed investment of 1.3 MSEK in May 2019. With the new funding, Open Payments will continue to grow the team expand the platform to drive and enable Open banking in the Nordic and European markets.

Read more about Open Payments here https://openpayments.io/

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Montagu fully exits stake in Visma

Montagu

Montagu Private Equity (“Montagu”), a leading European private equity firm, announced today that it has agreed to a full exit of its stake in Visma, a leading provider of business-critical software to private and public enterprises in the Nordic, Benelux and Central & Eastern European regions, to a consortium of new and existing investors.

The transaction is part of a further investment from existing shareholders Hg, GIC and CPPIB, as well as from new shareholders TPG and Warburg Pincus, that will place an enterprise value on Visma of NOK 110 billion (US$ 12.2 billion), making this the largest ever software buyout globally.

Montagu has been an investor in Visma since 2010, reinvesting in 2014 and again in 2017. During that period Visma has grown to become the leading provider of SaaS productivity solutions to businesses across the Nordics, Benelux and Central & Eastern European regions. Since Montagu’s initial investment, the company has completed over 150 add-on acquisitions and achieved annualised revenue growth of over 20%, expanding geographically and developing Visma’s technology offerings in the process.

Visma is the largest provider of cloud-delivered Software-as-a-Service (SaaS) products to European businesses, having strategically invested in SaaS technology for more than a decade. Today Visma has over 11,000 employees, including 4,000 software developers who serve over 1 million business customers.

Ed Shuckburgh, Director at Montagu, commented: “We are proud to have joined and supported Visma’s management team over the past decade in their impressive growth journey. Since our initial investment, the company has expanded to become one of the most successful software businesses in Europe. We wish the team and everyone at Visma well as they embark on this next stage of their journey.”

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Hg leads further majority investment in Visma valued at US$12.2 billion in the world’s largest ever software buyout

HG Capital

  • Hg Saturn 2 will put forward the majority of the new invested capital to acquire a further stake in Visma from a group of current investors including Montagu, who will fully exit the business.
  • New investors, Warburg Pincus and TPG will also invest in the business for the first time, acquiring minority stakes.  Existing investor CPPIB will also acquire an additional stake;
  • The investment will value Visma at an Enterprise Value of NOK 110 billion (US$12.2 billion), making this the largest ever software buyout globally;
  • Visma’s strategy is to improve society through greater productivity.  It does this by providing world-class, mission-critical, Software-as-a-Service (SaaS) to over one million businesses in areas such as accounting, resource planning, payroll, HR and commerce applications;
  • Hg will continue to support this proven strategy, alongside a group of world-class technology investors.

London, UK and Oslo, Norway. 21 August 2020. Hg, Europe’s leading software investor, today announces that the Hg Saturn team and its investors have agreed to a further investment in Visma, a leading provider of business-critical software to private and public enterprises in the Nordic, Benelux and Baltic regions.  Hg will put forward the majority of the new invested capital in a transaction valuing the business at an Enterprise Value of NOK 110 billion (US$12.2 billion), making this the largest ever software buyout globally.

The Hg Saturn 2 Fund will purchase the stake from Montagu, a leading European private equity firm which has been an investor in the business since 2010, and other investors including Hg’s Genesis 7 Fund which will reduce its holding in Visma. Warburg Pincus and TPG will invest in the company for the first time, acquiring minority stakes. Existing investor CPPIB will increase its stake, alongside other current co-investors in the business, including General Atlantic who invested earlier in the year.  Following completion of the transaction, Hg will continue to own a majority (c.54%) stake in Visma, with co-investors GIC, ICG, CPPIB, Warburg Pincus, TPG, General Atlantic and management.

Hg led the original delisting of Visma from the Oslo Stock Exchange in 2006 and has been the lead or co-lead investor in Visma for the last 14 years. During this period Visma has grown to become a leading provider of SaaS productivity solutions to businesses across Northern Europe – the Nordics, Benelux and Central & Eastern European regions.

Visma is a true Software-as-a-Service (SaaS) champion and the largest provider of cloud-delivered SaaS to European businesses. This is the result of an early decision by Visma and Hg to invest in cloud and SaaS technology in 2008.  This early investment has given Visma a leading suite of SaaS products across a number of sectors.  Today Visma has over 11,000 employees, including 4,000 software developers who serve over one million business customers. The success in SaaS has resulted in uninterrupted, year-on-year, revenue and EBITDA growth over the last 15 years of (19% and 23% CAGR respectively).

“For almost 15 years now, Visma has benefited from a supportive and highly knowledgeable private equity investor base, led by Hg. This guidance and know-how in the software sector has enabled us to consistently and significantly expand both our product offering and geographic footprint. This includes a significant investment in SaaS which has strengthened our recurring revenue model.  We continue to invest in world-class technology including new areas of innovation, such as AI and machine learning. We warmly welcome this further support from Hg, General Atlantic and new investors Warburg Pincus and TPG and look forward to continuing Visma’s journey to create a fully online ecosystem for SMBs across Europe.”

Merete Hverven, CEO of Visma.

“Visma is Europe’s biggest success story in cloud software for businesses. This is a result of consistent investment in SaaS technology by Øystein Moan, Merete Hverven and their world-class team.  Today we’re as excited as we’ve ever been about the future prospects of the business. Most recently, Covid19 has demonstrated the power of Visma’s cloud solutions – empowering businesses to stay connected and continue working through the crisis.  We’re also delighted to welcome new investors, who join the other strategic investors already supporting Visma from across the globe.”

Nic Humphries, Senior Partner and Head of the Hg Saturn team.

Advising on the transaction were: on the buy side, Arma Partners (financial adviser), Jefferies (financial adviser), Carnegie Investment Bank (financial adviser), Skadden (M&A legal), Kirkland & Ellis (financing legal), Deloitte (structuring), EY (financial and tax DD), Alvarez & Marsal (operational DD) and OC&C (top-up commercial support). On the sell side, advisors were Goldman Sachs (financial adviser), BofA Securities (financial adviser), ABG Sundal Collier (financial adviser), Linklaters (legal), Wiersholm (Norway legal), Deloitte (financial DD), Crosslake (tech DD) and OC&C (commercial DD).

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Sovos to gain new investment

HG Capital

Sovos to Gain New Investment by Hg Saturn and TA Associates, Fueling Continued Growth as Digital Transformation of Tax Accelerates Worldwide

Global tax software provider Sovos today announced that Hg — a leading global software investor, partner and supporter of the expansion of Sovos for more than four years — will lead a further, majority investment in the company through the Hg Saturn 2 Fund. TA Associates, a leading global private equity firm with more than four decades of software investing experience, will also join as a significant minority investor to support the next wave of Sovos’ growth. Following this new investment, Sovos is poised to continue its geographic expansion, deepen its partner ecosystem, and respond rapidly to emerging tax and regulatory changes around the world.

Sovos has grown substantially since Hg first invested in the company in 2016. Since then, Sovos has acquired more than 10 companies across North America, Latin America and Europe; more than doubled its customer base to 8,000-plus, including half of the Fortune 500 companies; and added more than 1,000 employees working across 10 countries. With the continuity of support from Hg and the added resources and experience from TA Associates, Sovos will advance its initiatives in adjacent segments, as well as the overall growth strategy integral to its mission to Solve Tax for GoodⓇ everywhere its customers do business.

“Hg’s new investment in Sovos is a sign of their confidence in our market, our position and our unique ability to deliver a complete solution for modern tax, including tax determination, continuous transaction control compliance and tax reporting. With the renewed support from Hg and the additional backing of TA Associates, Sovos is ready for the next stage of growth at a crucial time, as the digital transformation of government, technology and business converge.”

Andy Hovancik, CEO, Sovos

“In 2016, Hg invested in the Sovos vision to put tax compliance software where it belongs — in the modern, digital financial core. Since then, Sovos’ team has executed perfectly on a formidable strategy. In addition to strong organic growth generated from a robust recurring revenue model, Sovos has also executed on its targeted acquisition strategy, bringing new entrepreneurial founders into the business. As we move further into a world of digitized tax and regulation, Sovos is a trusted, future-ready solution for its multi-national customers.”

Jonathan Boyes, partner at Hg

“Sovos leads a large, acyclical, global sector driven by increasingly complex tax regimes. Without a global solution, the rise of digital taxation has the potential to disrupt supply chain and finance transformation efforts. Sovos recognized that, and its leadership team has built the regulatory expertise, product innovation and business strategy to address it. We believe Sovos is ready to execute globally, and TA Associates is ready to support the company as it enters this next stage of growth.”

Hythem El-Nazer, managing director at TA Associates

“Sovos has been a cornerstone partnership for Hg as we’ve expanded into the U.S. over the years. The new Hg investment marks a new stage for the business, with Sovos offering an increasingly valuable proposition for customers with complex multinational operations.  We’re absolutely delighted to continue our support for the Sovos team.”

Gero Wittemann, partner and co-lead of Hg’s New York team

The terms of the deal, which is expected to close in the second half of 2020 pending regulatory approvals and closing conditions, were not disclosed. William Blair and Jefferies served as financial advisors to Sovos. Hg (as manager of Saturn 2) was advised by Goldman Sachs and Shea & Company, and TA Associates was advised by Barclays. Skadden and Kirkland and Ellis provided legal counsel and accounting and tax advice was provided by Ernst & Young and Deloitte.

Upon closing of the transaction, Gero Wittemann of Hg and Hythem El-Nazer and Morgan Seigler of TA Associates will be appointed to the Sovos Board of Directors.

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EQT Infrastructure to acquire leading global data center provider EdgeConneX

eqt

  • EQT Infrastructure has agreed to acquire EdgeConneX, a leading global data center provider serving the fast growing Hyperscale and Edge ecosystems
  • EdgeConneX has a global footprint, operating and developing over 40 facilities in 33 markets across North America, Europe and South America
  • EQT Infrastructure is committed to actively support EdgeConneX’s accelerated growth via new market entries and material expansions of existing locations
  • EQT is acquiring EdgeConneX from an investor group led by Providence Equity Partners

EQT Infrastructure today announced that the EQT Infrastructure IV fund (“EQT Infrastructure”) has agreed to acquire EdgeConneX, Inc. (“EdgeConneX” or the “Company”) from an investor group led by Providence Equity Partners (“Providence”).

EdgeConneX builds and operates data centers for cloud, content, network and other service providers requiring both larger purpose-built facilities as well as edge facilities located closer to consumer and enterprise users to support latency-sensitive applications cost effectively. The Company’s broad footprint and relentless customer-focused business strategy have proven ideally suited to support these sophisticated customers’ strategic data center demands, from the Hyperscale to the Edge. As customers rapidly expand their critical infrastructure around the globe, they look to EdgeConneX as a trusted partner to enable their growth needs in an environmentally friendly manner.

EQT Infrastructure will support the continued development of EdgeConneX and actively assist the Company in its pursuit of new opportunities to grow in existing and new markets globally. EdgeConneX is uniquely positioned to benefit from the secular tailwinds driving increased data center usage. As the need for data grows ever larger, not only because of cloud and content but also driven by new innovations such as Artificial Intelligence, 5G Networks, Autonomous Vehicles, Virtual Reality, Cloud Gaming and the Internet-of-Things, there will continue to be substantial opportunities for EdgeConneX to continue to develop critical infrastructure to support its customers’ needs.

Jan Vesely, Partner at EQT Partners, said, “EQT has followed EdgeConneX’s journey from its early years to its growth into a top data center industry player. We are deeply impressed by EdgeConneX’s management team and the success they have had in creating a key contributor to the global cloud infrastructure. This partnership represents an exciting opportunity for EQT in a sector and geographies where we have significant experience. EQT looks forward to working with the team in continuing to grow the business and identify new expansion opportunities”.

Randy Brouckman, CEO of EdgeConneX, said, “EQT brings significant financial resources and digital infrastructure industry experience which EdgeConneX will use to accelerate growth and invest in new data centers around the world. I look forward to continuing to lead EdgeConneX and we are very pleased to have EQT as our new owner and partner in this exciting growth phase. On behalf of EdgeConneX, I thank our outstanding customers and partners, dedicated employees and long-term shareholders that gave us the latitude to succeed and create lasting value”.

Chris Ragona, Managing Director at Providence, said, “We have enjoyed working with Randy and team over the past five years and are pleased to have helped the company grow significantly, especially overseas. We fully expect EdgeConneX will continue its momentum and success as the company enters this next chapter. On behalf of our entire investor group, we wish them well”.

The transaction is subject to customary closing conditions and is expected to close in the fourth quarter of 2020. With this transaction, EQT Infrastructure IV is expected to be 80-85% invested.

Evercore acted as financial advisor and Simpson Thacher & Bartlett LLP acted as legal counsel to EdgeConneX. Goldman Sachs acted as financial advisor and Kirkland & Ellis LLP acted as lead legal counsel to EQT Infrastructure.

About EQT
EQT is a differentiated global investment organization with more than EUR 62 billion in raised capital and around EUR 40 billion in assets under management across 19 active funds. EQT funds have portfolio companies in Europe, Asia-Pacific and North America with total sales of more than EUR 27 billion and approximately 159,000 employees. EQT works with portfolio companies to achieve sustainable growth, operational excellence and market leadership.

More info: www.eqtgroup.com
Follow EQT on LinkedIn, Twitter, YouTube and Instagram

US press contact: daniel.yunger@kekstcnc.com, +1 917 574 8582
EQT press office: press@eqtpartners.com, +46 8 506 55 334

About EdgeConneX
EdgeConneX provides a full range of data center solutions worldwide, from Hyperlocal to Hyperscale, from purpose-built to build-to-order, working closely with our customers to offer choice in location, scale, and type of facility. Delivering flexibility, connectivity, proximity, and value, EdgeConneX is a global leader in anytime, anywhere, any scale data center services for a diverse portfolio of industries including Content, Cloud, Networks, Gaming, Automotive, SaaS, IoT, HPC, Security, and more.

More info: www.edgeconnex.com
Press contact: jsa_edgeconnex@jsa.net, +1-866-695-3629 ext 13

About Providence Equity Partners
Providence is a premier global asset management firm with over $49 billion in aggregate capital commitments. Providence pioneered a sector-focused approach to private equity investing with the vision that a dedicated team of industry experts could build exceptional companies of enduring value. Since the firm’s inception in 1989, Providence has invested in more than 200 companies and has become a leading equity investment firm focused on the media, communications, education and information industries. Providence is headquartered in Providence, RI, and also has offices in New York and London.

More info: www.provequity.com
Press contact: Andrew Cole and Hayley Cook, Sard Verbinnen & Co, prov-svc@sardverb.com

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Duck Creek Technologies Prices Initial Public Offering

Apax

13 August 2020

Boston, August. 13, 2020 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) — Duck Creek Technologies, Inc. (“Duck Creek”), a provider of SaaS-delivered enterprise software to the property and casualty (“P&C”) insurance industry, announced today the pricing of its initial public offering of 15,000,000 shares of its common stock at a price of $27.00 per share. The shares are expected to begin trading on the Nasdaq Global Select Market on August 14, 2020 under the symbol “DCT.” The offering is expected to close on August 18, 2020 subject to customary closing conditions. The underwriters have a 30-day option to purchase up to an additional 2,250,000 shares of common stock at the initial public offering price, less underwriting discounts and commissions.

Goldman Sachs & Co. LLC, J.P. Morgan and BofA Securities are serving as lead book-running managers for the proposed offering. Barclays and RBC Capital Markets are also acting as book-running managers for the proposed offering. JMP Securities, Needham & Company, Stifel, William Blair, D.A. Davidson & Co, Raymond James and Loop Capital Markets are acting as co-managers for the proposed offering.

This offering is being made only by means of a prospectus. Copies of the final prospectus may be obtained, when available, for free by visiting EDGAR on the Securities and Exchange Commission’s (“SEC”) website at www.sec.gov. Alternatively, copies of the final prospectus, when available, may be obtained for free from the offices of Goldman Sachs & Co. LLC, Attention: Prospectus Department, 200 Wall Street, New York, New York 10282, by telephone at (866) 471-2526 or by email at prospectus-ny@ny.email.gs.com; J.P. Morgan Securities LLC, c/o Broadridge Financial Solutions, 1155 Long Island Avenue, Edgewood, NY, 11717, by telephone at (866) 803-9204 or by email at prospectus-eq_fi@jpmchase.com; or BofA Securities, Inc., Attn: Prospectus Department, 200 North College Street, 3rd floor, Charlotte, NC 28255 or by email at dg.prospectus_requests@bofa.com. The offering is subject to market and other conditions, and there can be no assurance as to whether or when the offering may be completed.

The registration statement relating to these securities has been declared effective by the Securities and Exchange Commission.  This press release shall not constitute an offer to sell or the solicitation of an offer to buy these securities, nor shall there be any sale of these securities in any state or jurisdiction in which such offer, solicitation or sale would be unlawful prior to registration or qualification under the securities laws of any such state or jurisdiction.

About Duck Creek

Duck Creek Technologies is a leading provider of core system solutions to the P&C and General insurance industry. By accessing Duck Creek OnDemand, the company’s enterprise Software-as-a-Service solution, insurance carriers are able to navigate uncertainty and capture market opportunities faster than their competitors. Duck Creek’s functionally-rich solutions are available on a standalone basis or as a full suite, and all are available via Duck Creek OnDemand.

Forward Looking Statements

This press release includes certain disclosures which contain “forward-looking statements.” You can identify forward-looking statements because they contain words such as “believes” and “expects.” Forward-looking statements, including statements regarding the size, timing and expected price range of the initial public offering, are based on Duck Creek’s current expectations and assumptions. Because forward-looking statements relate to the future, they are subject to inherent uncertainties, risks and changes in circumstances that may differ materially from those contemplated by the forward-looking statements, which are neither statements of historical fact nor guarantees or assurances of future performance. Important factors that could cause actual results to differ materially from those in the forward-looking statements are set forth in Duck Creek’s registration statement on Form S-1, as amended from time to time, including under the caption “Risk Factors.” Any forward-looking statement in this release speaks only as of the date of this release. Duck Creek undertakes no obligation to publicly update or review any forward-looking statement, whether as a result of new information, future developments or otherwise, except as may be required by any applicable laws.

Media Contact:

Paul Rechichi
Racepoint Global
617 624 3295
prechichi@racepointglobal.com

Sam A. Shay
Duck Creek Technologies
857 201 5784
sam.shay@duckcreek.com

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iObeya Raises $17 Million to Revolutionize Visual Management and Expand U.S. Footprint With New Seattle Office

Fortino Capital

More than 350,000 workers around the world use iObeya as global demand for enterprise-grade visual collaboration software explodes

July 23, 2020 – MASSY, France – iObeya, a leading provider of Enterprise Visual Management software, today announced that it has raised $17 million in a second round of funding from Red River West with participation from Atlantic Bridge Capital and Fortino Capital Partners, bringing the total raised to date to $20 million. In addition to advancing the development of its platform, the new financing will accelerate the company’s expansion into the United States, including the opening of a Seattle headquarters led by Cisco veteran Tim McCracken. The company also announced that it has recruited Rick Tywoniak, an expert in the field of visual collaboration, as Vice President of Marketing.

While iObeya was widely used prior to the pandemic — hundreds of thousands of workers already use iObeya every day — the rapid and unprecedented shift to remote work has fueled skyrocketing demand for its platform, which is up by more than 400% since January. iObeya is ideal for large organizations with distributed teams; those that have complex R&D, engineering, and manufacturing processes; and those that utilize Lean and Agile methods. A growing number of forward-thinking multinational companies depend on iObeya for their Visual Management and their visual collaboration including: Airbus, Thales, Volvo, Philips, Cartier, Axa, Eli Lilly and Company, Western Digital, Kimberly-Clark,  Danaher, Sanofi, and many more.

“A decade or more ago, digital whiteboarding tools ushered in an era of visual collaboration. Today, iObeya represents a new vanguard that is poised to define the era of Visual Management,” said Luc-Emmanuel Barreau, Partner at Red River West. “iObeya’s momentum and ‘stickiness’ among leading global brands proves that there is significant — and growing — demand for enterprise-grade visual collaboration solutions that are designed on Lean and Agile principles, that fuel innovation and drive business performance. iObeya’s team has a proven track record and we’re excited to lead this investment as the company expands its global footprint, notably in the U.S.”

Enterprise Visual Management – The Next Generation of Visual Collaboration for Lean and Agile Companies

Companies around the world are increasingly deploying Lean and Agile management methodologies in order to improve overall business performance and competitiveness. Visual Management is a core component of these transformative methodologies, yet many companies find it difficult to scale enterprise-wide: valuable knowledge ends up on Post-It notes, whiteboards, or other information silos such that it cannot be securely stored or shared. Existing visual collaboration and digital whiteboarding tools are limited in enterprise functionality and are ineffective at reproducing a company’s unique Lean rituals and Agile ceremonies at scale, creating disconnectedness across teams and reducing their ability to manage projects effectively. As a result, many companies must either develop their own software in-house, which is both time-consuming and costly, or attempt to piece together multiple tools.

“Today’s workers know that advancing a unified vision and achieving common goals through teamwork — especially when working remotely — is essential. That’s why companies are striving to provide their employees with a human-centric, virtual environment in which they can innovate, grow, and contribute to the success of the business,” said Cyril Daloz, co-founder and CEO of iObeya. “iObeya is an enterprise platform that empowers teams to create secure, configurable virtual rooms to support all their Visual Management practices. Users can share information and ideas, collaborate with colleagues in real time, and track the progress of projects according to Lean and Agile principles. Our solution is particularly well-positioned to lead in these unprecedented times. We look forward to using this new investment to deliver a more visual and collaborative management approach, centered on human values, to large organizations as we expand our business in the U.S. and around the world.”

As the leader in Visual Management for Lean and Agile companies, iObeya is at the heart of business processes and helps businesses achieve operational excellence. iObeya accelerates the deployment of Lean and Agile across large organizations by digitizing all key Visual Management practices: industrial product lifecycle management, manufacturing operational excellence, software design and development, continuous improvement of business performance, and much more.

With the iObeya platform, enterprise users can:

  • Go beyond the limitations of paper and boost innovation with real-time, collaborative, visual workspaces — Each iObeya room, designed to be a digital reproduction of a real-world “obeya” room, is a virtual workspace dedicated to visual collaboration, accommodating up to 200 users and 40 whiteboards. Users and teams enjoy an immersive, co-creation experience with a wide range of fully-configurable digital tools to replicate and enhance meetings that are traditionally conducted with paper, Post-It notes, and whiteboards.
  • Incorporate Lean and Agile principles into business processes — Seamless integrations with Atlassian Jira and Microsoft Azure DevOps help companies unlock the full potential of Application LifeCycle Management (ALM) and strengthen Scaled Agile Framework (SAFe®) ceremonies. iObeya is integrated with Microsoft Office 365, enabling users to directly access their visual workspace from Microsoft Teams. iObeya also contributes to the digital transformation and operational excellence of factories by providing performance management (SQCDP) for Industry 4.0 applications.
  • Increase participation, transparency, and accountability across working groups — With iObeya, teams have a single online location for tracking ideas, progress, and results so that projects stay on track and nothing falls through the cracks. Intuitive activity cards enable users to sort tasks in a variety of ways: by project, deadline, owner, and other configurable views.
  • Leverage cloud-based SaaS or deploy onsite for total data governance — iObeya offers companies the choice to use its secure SaaS service or easily deploy an on-premise version.
  • Ensure the security of corporate data — iObeya is the only Visual Management software to be ISO/IEC 27001:2013 certified by BSI, the leading international security standards organization. This certification confirms that iObeya meets the most stringent level of IT governance by large enterprises.

“Today, more than 10,000 daily users benefit from a single enterprise platform for their Visual Management practices. iObeya allows our teams to be perfectly aligned and to avoid waste all the while benefiting from a significant increase in efficiency for the organization on a global scale: less travel, fewer emails, and above all, more time for product development,” said Philippe Colombo, Head of Knowledge Management and Visual Management at Volvo. iObeya is a must for any global company going through a Lean transformation”.

About iObeya

Founded in 2011, iObeya is the enterprise platform dedicated to all Visual Management and collaboration practices. iObeya enables distributed teams to perform their rituals and ceremonies as though face-to-face and in a secure virtual environment, while upholding the principles of Lean and Agile methodologies. More than 350,000 workers around the world use iObeya daily to improve their company’s performance as part of their major strategic Lean, Agile, digital and cultural transformations. iObeya is backed by leading venture capital firms including Red River West, Atlantic Bridge Capital, and Fortino Capital Partners. For more information, please visit iobeya.com.

About Red River West

Red River West is a unique cross-border VC firm which promotes the international take-off of outstanding EU Tech companies by providing significant financial firepower and game changing hands-on support in EU & the US. RRW focuses on highly disruptive growth-stage companies with investment tickets of €5 million to €30 million. RRW was initiated in 2017 by Artemis – the Pinault family holding company – and Alfred Vericel – the co-founder of Purch, a digital media group leader in the U.S.

About Fortino Capital Partners

Fortino Capital Partners is a European enterprise software investor, managing a €240 million growth private equity fund and two venture capital funds for earlier stage software opportunities. The firm has offices in Antwerp and Amsterdam. Fortino Capital’s investment portfolio includes MobileXpense, Efficy CRM, Odin Groep, Tenzinger, Maxxton, LetsBuild, Teamleader, among others. For more information, please visit
www.fortinocapital.com.

About Atlantic Bridge Capital

Atlantic Bridge Capital is a Global Growth Technology Investment Firm with over €950 million of assets under management across seven Funds, investing in Deep Tech growth stage technology companies in Europe and the U.S. The firm has offices and investment teams based in Palo Alto, London, Dublin, Munich, and Paris.

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Ardian portfolio company Dedalus acquires DXC Technology’s healthcare software solutions division

Ardian

Dedalus strengthens its leading position in the healthcare IT sector at European and global level by operating in 40 countries worldwide

  • The deal is based on a strong complementarity in the sharing of the same methodologies and technologies for products development
  • The acquisition will enable Dedalus to accelerate the digital transformation of the healthcare ecosystem through its scaled R&D capabilities
  • Dedalus will employ over 5,500 people, with circa 2,000 solely in R&D, generating over 700 million euros in turnover
  • More than 3 billion clinical documents are produced globally each year by professionals using Dedalus solutions
  • Florence, 21 July 2020 – Dedalus Group, a leading international healthcare software provider, announces that it has reached a binding agreement for the acquisition of the Healthcare Software Solutions division of US-based DXC Technology Company (NYSE: DXC). DXC Technology is one of the world’s largest IT services companies. Dedalus Group is 75% owned by Ardian.

The acquisition firmly establishes Dedalus as a leading global player in the hospital and diagnostic software solutions sector. It now has a presence in over 40 countries, holding leading positions in major European countries, including Germany, Italy, the UK, France and Spain.

With this acquisition, the business will generate future total turnover of around 700 million euros, creating the world’s largest R&D platform for this sector.

DXC Technology’s healthcare software division provides clinical healthcare software solutions for national and regional authorities, hospitals, diagnostic laboratories, general practitioners and outpatients. The business already holds a leading position across the UK/Ireland, Australia, New Zealand and Spain, and also a significant position across Northern Europe, Latin America, Asia, the Middle East and North America. It covers all aspects of clinical decision-making processes, improving the ability for collaboration of all healthcare stakeholders in the care of patients.

The deal capitalises on significant synergies between the two companies that will allow Dedalus to expand its existing business in major European markets, expand into new markets, and establish a long time skilled management team led by Dedalus CEO Andrea Fiumicelli and Giorgio Moretti, Chairman of the Company.

Andrea Fiumicelli, CEO of Dedalus Group, commented: ”This acquisition allows us to make significant strides in becoming a true global player.  I am pleased to see the two companies sharing a common goal of catalysing the digital transformation of the global healthcare ecosystem. The healthcare industry is currently evolving significantly, and we look to tap into these changes and support the sector with our expertise and systems.”

Giorgio Moretti, Chairman of Dedalus Group, added: “The integration of DXC’s healthcare software solutions activities into Dedalus Group will accelerate our support and impact on more than 3 million healthcare professionals who operate thanks to our technologies”.

Yann Chareton, Managing Director Ardian Buyout, added: “Since our investment in 2016, we have supported Dedalus’ growth and development and are pleased to see the heights it has reached. Following the prior acquisition of the healthcare IT business of Agfa Group, this deal further enables Dedalus to make a decisive step in its consolidation strategy. We are extremely pleased to see such a significant goal achieved”.

Dedalus was assisted by UBS as financial advisor, CC as legal advisor, BCG for Strategic Due Diligence, KPMG for Accounting and fiscal Due Diligence and Techeconomy for Technical Due Diligence.

 

ABOUT DEDALUS

Founded in Florence in 1982 by the current Chairman Giorgio Moretti, Dedalus Group is the leading healthcare and diagnostic software provider in Europe and one of the largest in the world. The shareholding structure ensures stability and great financial capacity through the presence of Ardian, the largest private investment company in Europe and 4th in the world.
Starting in 2016, Dedalus has decided to accelerate its expansion strategy by targeting a growing demand for innovative and comprehensive ICT and Clinical transformation solutions. With the acquisition of Agfa Healthcare IT, Dedalus consolidates its leadership as pan-European player in healthcare software industry, with a leading position in Hospital IT (HCIS) and Diagnostic (DIS) in Germany, Italy and France, with a strong footprint in Austria, Switzerland, Spain, Belgium, China, Brazil and several locations in the Latin America, Middle East and Africa, reaching over 30 different countries. Today Dedalus employs over 3,500 highly skilled resources; it has the largest R&D software team in the sector in Europe with more than 1,100 people. Thanks to its undisputed cutting-edge portfolio of leading the new generation solutions, Dedalus covers the whole spectrum of needs for healthcare operators, supporting over 5000 hospitals and 5000 laboratories around the world.

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ABOUT DXC TECHNOLOGY

DXC Technology Company (NYSE: DXC) helps global companies run their mission critical systems and operations while modernizing IT, optimizing data architectures, and ensuring security and scalability across public, private and hybrid clouds. With decades of driving innovation, the world’s largest companies trust DXC to deploy our enterprise technology stack to deliver new levels of performance, competitiveness and customer experiences. Learn more about the DXC story and our focus on people, customers and operational execution by visiting their website.

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ABOUT ARDIAN

Ardian is a world-leading private investment house with assets of US$100bn managed or advised in Europe, the Americas and Asia. The company is majority-owned by its employees. It keeps entrepreneurship at its heart and focuses on delivering excellent investment performance to its global investor base.
Through its commitment to shared outcomes for all stakeholders, Ardian’s activities fuel individual, corporate and economic growth around the world.
Holding close its core values of excellence, loyalty and entrepreneurship, Ardian maintains a truly global network, with more than 670 employees working from fifteen offices across Europe (Frankfurt, Jersey, London, Luxembourg, Madrid, Milan, Paris and Zurich), the Americas (New York, San Francisco and Santiago) and Asia (Beijing, Singapore, Tokyo and Seoul). It manages funds on behalf of around 1.000 clients through five pillars of investment expertise: Fund of Funds, Direct Funds, Infrastructure, Real Estate and Private Debt.

Press contacts

DEDALUS / Image Building

CRISTINA FOSSATI, LUISELLA MURTAS, ANNA PIRTALI

ardian@imagebuilding.it +39 02 8901 1300

ARDIAN / Headland

GREGOR RIEMANN

griemann@headlandconsultancy.com +44 (0)20 3435 7483

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Universal-Investment acquires B2B online investment platform CAPinside

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Montagu

  • CAPinside offers a digital, artificial intelligence-based B2B portfolio for networking intermediaries such as IFAs with asset managers and fund initiators
  • The takeover is an important building block for Universal-Investment for offering fund initiators a wider range of distribution options for all customer groups and asset classes

Montagu portfolio company The Universal-Investment Group (“Universal-Investment”) has acquired CAPinside GmbH. CAPinside was formed in October 2018 and employs around 40 staff at its head office in Hamburg.

CAPinside is key to the success of Universal-Investment’s digitalisation and innovation plans and we are delighted to be jointly setting new standards for our customers.

Michael Reinhard, CEO, Universal-Investment

CAPinside is a B2B online investment platform for the investment market, focussing on fund marketing and sales initiation. It brings together intermediaries, in particular IFAs, with asset managers and fund initiators through algorithms generated using artificial intelligence, via high quality content and investment analyses as well as data-driven bespoke matching.

With around 90,000 users per month and almost 20,000 members, CAPinside is the fastest growing professional online investment platform in the German-speaking region and market leader in Germany. CAPinside is further diversifying its spectrum with future-orientated investment managers offering Blockchain-based investments.

Fund initiators benefit from the advancement to a comprehensive sales platform

“With CAPinside, Universal-Investment is further diversifying its distribution portfolio for fund initiators and managers. Over the coming months, we will also be investing heavily to offer our fund initiators distribution and cooperation possibilities; in this way, promising fund concepts will be able reach a wide range of investor groups,” says Katja Müller, Chief Customer Officer at Universal-Investment.

The acquisition is a key digital building block in creating a comprehensive, analogue and technological “single stop distribution platform” across all channels for every target group. It follows Universal-Investment’s takeover of labs, the IT data specialist and vendor of front office solutions for asset managers, in early 2019, which continues the company’s goal of becoming the leading European fund service platform and management company for all asset classes by 2023.

Michael Reinhard, CEO of Universal-Investment, explains: “Being able to reach investors online with digital formats and offerings, and with pinpoint accuracy, is becoming increasingly important in the fund industry. Asset managers and fund initiators are shifting unambiguously to distribution channels based on online platform offerings – with irrefutable benefits: precise segmentation of target groups and needs, measurability, 24/7 accessibility and lower costs. CAPinside is key to the success of our digitalisation and innovation plans and we are delighted to be jointly setting new standards for our customers.“

Philipp Schröder, founder and CEO of CAPinside says: “CAPinside is an example of how, even during the COVID-19 pandemic, intelligent, digital business models can grow significantly in less than two years, thereby generating added value for clients, users and fintech investors. Universal-Investment’s takeover allows us to make further investments to drive our expansive growth and benefit from the international fund service platform’s experience. CAPinside will continue to be an open platform for all asset managers.“

Besides the founders Philipp Schröder and Achim Denkel, a third managing director, Micha Grüber, will also remain at the helm and CAPinside will continue to operate as an independent brand. Dr. Jürgen Sehnert, Head of Strategy and Product Governance at Universal-Investment, will be appointed as an additional managing director to support the joint growth plans.

Montagu invested in Universal-Investment in 2017 and continues to support the company’s ambitious growth plans. In the past year, Universal-Investment has increased its assets under administration by €90bn to over €500bn.

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